Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36864135›Full record

ArticleNature human behaviour2023

Genome-wide analysis identifies genetic effects on reproductive success and ongoing natural selection at the FADS locus.

Iain Mathieson, Felix R Day, Nicola Barban, Felix C Tropf, David M Brazel, eQTLGen Consortium, BIOS Consortium, Ahmad Vaez, Natalie van Zuydam, Bárbara D Bitarello and 115 more

Open access · greenAbstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Nature human behaviour, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
15.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

40 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  8. Quantifying direct genetic signal captured by principal component adjustment.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
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  15. Global patterns of natural selection inferred using ancient DNA.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

125 authors at 20 institutions in 17 countries.

Iain Mathieson *Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. mathi@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4256-3982
Felix R Day *MRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3789-7651
Nicola Barban *Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Felix C Tropf *Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
David M Brazel *Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
eQTLGen Consortium
BIOS Consortium
Ahmad VaezDepartment of Epidemiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9048-3795
Natalie van ZuydamBeijer Laboratory and Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University and SciLifeLab, Uppsala, Sweden.
Bárbara D BitarelloDepartment of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7676-9367
Eugene J GardnerMRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9671-1533
Evelina T AkimovaNuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8733-3745
Ajuna AzadDNRF Center for Chromosome Stability, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Sven BergmannDepartment of Computational Biology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6785-9034
Lawrence F BielakDepartment of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3443-8030
Dorret I BoomsmaDepartment of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7099-7972
Kristina BosakPsychiatric Hospital 'Sveti Ivan', Zagreb, Croatia.
Marco BrumatDepartment of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.
Julie E BuringBrigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
David CesariniDepartment of Economics, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Daniel I ChasmanBrigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3357-0862
Jorge E ChavarroDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4436-9630
Massimiliano CoccaInstitute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS 'Burlo Garofolo', Trieste, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1127-7596
Maria Pina ConcasInstitute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS 'Burlo Garofolo', Trieste, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3598-2537
George Davey SmithMRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1407-8314
Gail DaviesLothian Birth Cohorts, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1120-7026
Ian J DearyLothian Birth Cohorts, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Tõnu EskoEstonian Genome Center, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Jessica D FaulSurvey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
FinnGen Study
Oscar FrancoDepartment of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4606-4929
Andrea GannaInstitute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8147-240X
Audrey J GaskinsDepartment of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9195-646X
Andrea GelemanovicUniversity of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia.
Eco J C de GeusDepartment of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Christian GiegerResearch Unit of Molecular Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6986-9554
Giorgia GirottoDepartment of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4507-6589
Bamini GopinathCentre for Vision Research, Westmead Institute for Medical Research and Department of Ophthalmology, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Hans Jörgen GrabeDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3684-4208
Erica P GundersonDivision of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2039-1964
Caroline HaywardMedical Research Council Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Chunyan HeMarkey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9443-4368
Diana van HeemstDepartment of Internal Medicine, Section of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
W David HillLothian Birth Cohorts, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Eva R HoffmannDNRF Center for Chromosome Stability, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2588-0652
Georg HomuthInterfaculty Institute for Genetics and Functional Genomics, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6839-0605
Jouke Jan HottengaDepartment of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5668-2368
Hongyang HuangDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Elina HyppӧnenAustralian Centre for Precision Health, University of South Australia Cancer Research Institute, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3670-9399
M Arfan IkramDepartment of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0372-8585
Rick JansenDepartment of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Public Health and Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3333-6737
Magnus JohannessonDepartment of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8759-6393
Zoha KamaliDepartment of Epidemiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6492-5887
Sharon L R KardiaDepartment of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Maryam KavousiDepartment of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5976-6519
Annette KifleyCentre for Vision Research, Westmead Institute for Medical Research and Department of Ophthalmology, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3764-4905
Tuomo KiiskinenInstitute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6306-8227
Peter KraftDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4472-8103
Brigitte KühnelResearch Unit of Molecular Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
Claudia LangenbergMRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5017-7344
Gerald LiewCentre for Vision Research, Westmead Institute for Medical Research and Department of Ophthalmology, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Lifelines Cohort Study
Penelope A LindPsychiatric Genetics, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3887-2598
Jian'an LuanMRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3137-6337
Reedik MägiEstonian Genome Center, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Patrik K E MagnussonDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7315-7899
Anubha MahajanWellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5585-3420
Nicholas G MartinGenetic Epidemiology, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Hamdi MbarekDepartment of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1108-0371
Mark I McCarthyWellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
George McMahonSchool of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Sarah E MedlandPsychiatric Genetics, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Thomas MeitingerInstitute of Human Genetics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
Andres MetspaluEstonian Genome Center, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3718-796X
Evelin MihailovEstonian Genome Center, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Lili MilaniEstonian Genome Center, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5323-3102
Stacey A MissmerDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Paul MitchellCentre for Vision Research, Westmead Institute for Medical Research and Department of Ophthalmology, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Stine MøllegaardDepartment of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5676-2248
Dennis O Mook-KanamoriDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
Anna MorganInstitute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS 'Burlo Garofolo', Trieste, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6290-445X
Peter J van der MostDepartment of Epidemiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8450-3518
Renée de MutsertDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.
Matthias NauckInstitute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6678-7964
Ilja M NolteDepartment of Epidemiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5047-4077
Raymond NoordamDepartment of Internal Medicine, Section of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7801-809X
Brenda W J H PenninxDepartment of Psychiatry, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research and Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, VU University Medical Center/GGZ inGeest, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Annette PetersInstitute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6645-0985
Patricia A PeyserDepartment of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9717-8459
Ozren PolašekUniversity of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia.
Chris PowerPopulation, Policy and Practice Research and Teaching Department, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK.
Ajka PribisalicUniversity of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3725-3728
Paul RedmondLothian Birth Cohorts, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Janet W Rich-EdwardsDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Paul M RidkerBrigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Cornelius A RietveldErasmus University Rotterdam Institute for Behavior and Biology, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4053-1861
Susan M RingMRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3103-9330
Lynda M RoseBrigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Rico RueediDepartment of Computational Biology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Vallari ShuklaDNRF Center for Chromosome Stability, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jennifer A SmithDepartment of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3575-5468
Stasa StankovicMRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6602-1379
Kári StefánssondeCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Doris StöcklInstitute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
Konstantin StrauchInstitute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.
Morris A SwertzDepartment of Genetics, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Alexander TeumerInstitute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8309-094X
Gudmar ThorleifssondeCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
Unnur ThorsteinsdottirdeCODE Genetics/Amgen Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
A Roy ThurikErasmus University Rotterdam Institute for Behavior and Biology, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0242-6908
Nicholas J TimpsonMRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7141-9189
Constance TurmanDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
André G UitterlindenErasmus University Rotterdam Institute for Behavior and Biology, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7276-3387
Melanie WaldenbergerResearch Unit of Molecular Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0583-5093
Nicholas J WarehamMRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1422-2993
David R WeirSurvey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1661-2402
Gonneke WillemsenDepartment of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Jing Hau ZhaoMRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Wei ZhaoDepartment of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7388-0692
Yajie ZhaoMRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2747-0219
Harold SniederDepartment of Epidemiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1949-2298
Marcel den HoedBeijer Laboratory and Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University and SciLifeLab, Uppsala, Sweden.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8081-428X
Ken K OngMRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4689-7530
Melinda C Mills *Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. melinda.mills@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1704-0001
John R B Perry *MRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. john.perry@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6483-3771
University of Cambridge · GBUniversity Medical Center Groningen · NLThe University of Sydney · AUBrigham and Women's Hospital · USUniversity of Copenhagen · DKUniversity of Michigan · USdeCODE Genetics (Iceland) · ISHarvard University · USNHS Lothian · GBCentre for Human Genetics · GBHelmholtz Zentrum München · DEQIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute · AUIRCCS Materno Infantile Burlo Garofolo · ITIsfahan University of Medical Sciences · IRSIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics · CHUniversity of Bristol · GBUniversity of Helsinki · FIUppsala University · SEKaiser Permanente · USLeiden University Medical Center · NL

Funding

Medical Research Council G9815508Medical Research Council MC_PC_15018Medical Research Council MC_UU_00006/1Medical Research Council MC_UU_00006/2Medical Research Council MC_UU_00032/1Medical Research Council MC_UU_12015/1Medical Research Council MC_UU_12015/2
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Identifying genetic determinants of reproductive success may highlight mechanisms underlying fertility and identify alleles under present-day selection. Using data in 785,604 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 43 genomic loci associated with either number of children ever born (NEB) or childlessness. These loci span diverse aspects of reproductive biology, including puberty timing, age at first birth, sex hormone regulation, endometriosis and age at menopause. Missense variants in ARHGAP27 were associated with higher NEB but shorter reproductive lifespan, suggesting a trade-off at this locus between reproductive ageing and intensity. Other genes implicated by coding variants include PIK3IP1, ZFP82 and LRP4, and our results suggest a new role for the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) in reproductive biology. As NEB is one component of evolutionary fitness, our identified associations indicate loci under present-day natural selection. Integration with data from historical selection scans highlighted an allele in the FADS1/2 gene locus that has been under selection for thousands of years and remains so today. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that a broad range of biological mechanisms contribute to reproductive success.

Indexed as

FertilityReproductionAgingChildDelta-5 Fatty Acid DesaturaseFatty Acid DesaturasesFemaleHumansMenopauseSelection, GeneticDelta-5 Fatty Acid DesaturaseFADS1 protein, humanFADS2 protein, humanFatty Acid Desaturases

Identifiers

PMID36864135
OpenAlexW4322766108

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.